Chapter 47: Don't Touch Me Without Taking a Bath! Unseen Delusions Are the Deadliest!

"Click—"
The door lock didn't turn; it was bolted from the inside.
"I knew it!" Wang Dong's triumphant voice came from within. "Wait, just a few more minutes."
"Alright, then I'll wait for you at our usual spot," Huo Yuhao muttered. "We're both men, what is there to be afraid of?"
Returning to the large tree in front of the dormitory, he took out four books and began flipping through them using spiritual telekinesis.
This reading session lasted for more than a couple of hours, and he had already cycled through three sets of books.
Only then did Wang Dong make a tardy appearance.
"Did you learn this sense of time from Xiao Xiao?" Huo Yuhao grumbled. "I used to think only girls were troublesome, but a big man like you..."
"Hey!" Wang Dong raged. "It's been a month, why are you still just as annoying!"
"Oh right, we haven't dual-cultivated in a month, come here and let me take a bite!" Huo Yuhao opened his arms for a hug.
Wang Dong stepped back to dodge, looking utterly disgusted.
"I just took a bath, stay away from me!"
"We'll just end up covered in stinking sweat after dual-cultivating anyway, you're making a superfluous effort."
"I don't care! If you don't take a bath, don't touch me!"
Huo Yuhao's face scrunched up in confusion.
How could it be that after just a month apart, Wang Dong's mysophobia had grown even more severe?
"Fine, I'll go back to the dorm and wash up."
Huo Yuhao flew back to the dormitory. As soon as he stepped through the door, he noticed that Wang Dong's bed had been freshly made with a furry mattress, several sets of clothes were scattered about, and a full-length mirror stood nearby.
Was Wang Dong trying on clothes just now, which was why he took so long to come down?
No way!
For a grown man, are you really this vain?
Huo Yuhao shook his head and headed to the bathroom to wash up.
"Tsk tsk tsk!" Zhuge Lan sighed with emotion. "The little cuties are right out there in plain sight, you should at least take a look!"
"What is a little cutie?" the Sky Dream Iceworm asked in confusion.
"It's what girls wear underneath, essentially a bodice."
"Do you still need a pouch for that thing?" The Sky Dream Iceworm scratched its chin.
"Humans and beasts have different structures. It's like how you streak every day, but humans can't do that." Zhuge Lan seized the opportunity to tease.
The Sky Dream Iceworm didn't catch the underlying implication and nodded thoughtfully.
This sight made the corners of Elixir's mouth curve upward slightly.
He suddenly felt somewhat reluctant to open up a second sea of consciousness; staying with Zhuge Lan brought all sorts of novel and quirky experiences.
Outside.
Huo Yuhao made quick work of it and walked out wrapped only in a bath towel.
He spotted Wang Dong with his rear end stuck out, rummaging through his own bed.
"You're back," Huo Yuhao greeted.
As a result, Wang Dong reacted like a startled bunny, leaping three meters into the air and nearly crashing into the ceiling.
Upon landing, he turned around with a resentful look, but his gaze instantly froze.
***
Following three months of strict self-discipline, Huo Yuhao's physique had long since undergone a radical transformation. He was the textbook definition of looking lean in clothes and muscular without them, his muscle lines as chiseled and stern as if carved by a knife and axe, while his abdominal muscles could practically double as a washboard.
He left Wang Dong frozen in place for several seconds before the latter snapped out of it, screaming and covering his face.
"You—you—you—why aren't you wearing clothes?"
"My Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night is stuffed with books, so my clothes are in the wardrobe," Huo Yuhao said casually. "Besides, I'm wearing a bath towel, don't act like I'm streaking."
When Wang Dong thought about it, that seemed to make sense.
He lowered his hands.
Just in time to see Huo Yuhao yank off the bath towel and pull on his clothes in front of the wardrobe.
Good grief!
It flushed an utterly defenseless Wang Dong bright red, leaving him staring in a dumbfounded, lagging daze.
Until Huo Yuhao finished dressing and turned around, only to find him in this state.
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "What, feeling inferior?"
Wang Dong instinctively recalled...
"Ah!!!"
"Get out!!!"
Soul power erupted, and a violent gale raged.
Huo Yuhao was blasted out of the dormitory, and the heavy door slammed shut behind him.
Leaving him completely baffled.
"Even if mine is bigger than yours, there's no need to be so ashamed and angry, right?"
"Scram!!!"
Huo Yuhao shrugged.
Assuming Wang Dong was just having one of his routine fits of madness, he decided to head back to the big tree to cultivate. On the long-vacant lounge chair, a familiar figure was lying leisurely.
"Teacher, you're back!"
"Yuhao, come here and let me see how much you've improved," Mu En beckoned.
Huo Yuhao obediently stepped forward, allowing Mu En to examine him.
"Not bad, not bad. It seems you haven't wasted a single moment," Mu En said with satisfaction. "Your soul power has also broken through to rank 20. When did that happen?"
"Replying to Teacher, I broke through half a month ago," Huo Yuhao said proudly. "Thanks to the Vajra Arhat Fruit given by Teacher, this disciple has already completed the first stage of the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic and is currently cultivating the second stage."
——The second stage required a consumption of 95,000 fortune points, which had completely wiped out his balance at the time!
Mu En nodded in gratified approval.
"Very good. Once your freshman examinations are over, I will take you to a precious land. It took a fair bit of effort just to locate that place this time."
"Now, let me test your theoretical knowledge."
......
After a round of questions and answers,
Mu En grew increasingly pleasantly surprised.
In just over a month,
Yuhao had already mastered the entire "wall of books" and had even moved on to a new batch of knowledge points.
Many of these already touched upon inner courtyard examinations, which showed just how rapid his progress was.
After his spiritual power mutated into spiritual telekinesis, who could have imagined it would provide such miraculous assistance to his learning?
Mu En couldn't help but recall that demigod from back then, who seemed to possess a similar fluctuation of spiritual power and had seen right through his impending death at a single glance.
Could it be...
Yuhao's martial soul mutation and spiritual power mutation were both the result of that demigod's intervention, all for the sake of passing down his mantle?
Wait!
That's not right!
It is virtually impossible for mere human mortal power to reach such a realm.
Only the Grand Pontiffs of those deities could take that half-step forward upon reaching rank 99.
Could it be that Yuhao had been chosen by some deity and groomed as an heir?
That was extremely likely!
The thought that his disciple might become a god set Mu En's heart ablaze with passion.
At the same time, a new idea formed in his mind.
"Yuhao, you learn very quickly. Would you be interested in trying your hand at being a soul engineer?" Mu En asked proactively.
Huo Yuhao blinked.
He hadn't even brought it up yet, and his teacher was already offering him a stepping stone.
"This disciple actually had this thought recently as well."
"I can already run the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic in my daily life, and I've absorbed most of the martial soul theories."
"With quite a bit of time left, I figured I should get in touch with soul tools, and I feel I'll gain some good insights from it."
"Oh right, Brother Lan is also a soul engineer, and he even said he gave me an 11th-rank soul tool, but I still haven't found where it is."
"I suspect Brother Lan was pulling my leg."
Huo Yuhao complained.
Yet Mu En was convinced beyond a doubt.
——Such an important matter was not something that demigod would joke about.
As for why Huo Yuhao couldn't find it...
Either his rank was too low to activate it, or it was a passive defense mechanism that would only appear when he encountered danger.
Regardless, this firmly cemented his resolve to send Yuhao to the Soul Engineering Branch.
"Splendid."
"Shaohe mentioned that you've learned a new set of Tai Chi, perform it for me to see."
"No need to recite the mental formulas."
Huo Yuhao hurriedly nodded and began practicing the routines.
In his heart, he was still grumbling.
"Brother Lan, why did you mention an 11th-rank soul tool? Deceiving the teacher like this isn't good..."
"Of course it's to pave the way for you," Zhuge Lan replied uncharitably. "..."